Damon Albarn Hints That Blur And Gorillaz Are Done

As we’ve come to expect, Damon Albarn has been keeping busy of late. The songwriter recently recorded two studio albums, Rocket Juice and the Moon and the Dr. Dee Soundtrack, and has some live dates with Blur lined up. In a recent interview with The Guardian, though, Albarn hints that Gorillaz and Blur are all but finished.

Last August, Albarn responded to questions about whether there was a new Blur album on the way by saying: “no, not really.” Albarn went on to elaborate that due to bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree no longer being “daily musicians” that it was hard for the band to really “reconnect.” Later in the interview, Albarn went on to say the following:

“It’s fine when we play live – it’s really magical still – but actually recording new stuff, and swapping musical influences… it’s quite difficult.”

When asked if his responses were to be implied that this was the official end of Blur, Albarn stated, “In all likelihood, I would say.” This goes against earlier reports from Graham Coxon who was quoted as saying in February that, “there will definitely be a new Blur album.”

As also reported, Blur will play a new song, though. Albarn told The Guardian that they recorded the song live and that it was, “quite nice, because I don’t really see any more recordings after this. So it’s nice to have finally done one song where we did it properly.”

As for the Gorillaz, things look just as bleak if not more so. Albarn revealed that co-founder Jamie Hewlett feels the project is “done” and thus, Albarn concluded that it was unlikely Gorillaz would record and release any more music. In addition, Albarn revealed that him and Hewlett were no longer speaking.

Looks like fans of Gorillaz and Blur will have to enjoy the great music they’ve got thus far from Albarn and company. [CoS]